Strange
by SkittlesStar25
Summary: After TSS...Craig finally wants things to work with Manny, but after seeing her with Rick he's confused....isn't rick...dead? please R&R! I suck at summaries....


A/N:This is going to be a fic that's completely pointless and may not make sense so anyone who is going to read this WATCH OUT! You may be confused….you've been warned.

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One summer afternoon Craig Manning walked through the park with his camera. He and Ashley had just had a fight over the stupidest thing. Lately they had been fighting a lot over the little things like song keys and Craig's sessions at the youth group. Craig wanted to break up with Ash but didn't have the heart to tell her.

As he slowly walked through the park he began taking pictures of random things…suddenly something caught his eye. There sitting on the swings chatting was Manny and Rick. Never in a million years did Craig think he would be seeing them together…. I mean after all…RICK WAS DEAD! Craig quickly snapped a picture. Manny saw the flash from the distance and gasped, quickly she grabbed Rick's wrist and ran into the woods. Craig hesitated, but then followed. The woods were thick and lush, but it was still light enough for Craig to see. No matter how hard he looked it seemed he just couldn't find them.

The next day at school Ashley approached Craig.

"Craig look…I'm sorry about the fight we had yesterday….I was blowing up for no reason. I wasn't respecting the fact that you get upset easily. I'm really sorry I hope you can forgive me baby."

Craig looked at her like she was crazy, "Ashley forget it…I can't take this anymore…all we do is fight…. I mean I love you, but I can't be with you…do you understand?"

Ashley began to tear up, "C-Craig….please….can we try to fix this? Please?"

He shook his head, "No Ash…this won't work. I'm sorry. "

Ashley quickly ran away to Ellie to cry about what had just happened. He was so happy to get that kind of load off his chest, he didn't know why, but after seeing Manny with Rick yesterday it got him jealous…but what he wanted to know was how was Manny with Rick if he's dead?

This thought confused Craig throughout the whole day…by the end he decided no one better to ask than Manny herself.

At the end of the day Craig walked over to locker 251..Manny's. He laid his back against the cool locker…it felt like the locker was old and unused, but he had seen Manny just that morning running from it. Craig waited until everyone had left before he decided to move from the locker. Before he could leave the school he heard her laughing. It was then that he saw her at her locker, she spun the combination until the lock clicked open. He watched as she picked up a few of her books and closed her locker. When she turned he looked straight into her eyes. He couldn't understand it, why was she becoming so secretive? What was she hiding?

He called out her name, "Manny!"

Quickly she turned around and raced down the hallway.

"Manny! WAIT!" Craig began to sprint after her. Watching closely as she turned down each corridor faster than the next. He knew he couldn't keep up so he just lunged at her. He felt his body collide with hers as he brought her to the floor.

"Ow! What'd you do that for? Leave me alone Craig."

"Manny I saw you yesterday at the park."

She looked at me strange, "So? What's your point?"

"Manny…I must be going crazy, but I thought I saw you with….Rick."

Her eyes went wide, "Craig…this is ridiculous. Rick and I….I mean…Rick's dead…how you could have seen me with him? It must have been someone else."

"No Manny it was you. I would recognize you anywhere."

"Oh Craig!" Quickly she wrapped her arms around his body, she felt ice cold for some reason.

Craig stared into her eyes, for so long he wished to embrace her the way he use to when they dated…when she was pregnant…with HIS baby. How he wished he could have raised that child…he would have been the best damn father he'd ever seen. Her eyes held an emptiness to them and he couldn't put his finger on it, but she looked sad for some reason. Craig didn't understand it, but he didn't care. As long as he had Manny in his arms again it was all he needed. Slowly he moved in and kissed her, her lips were frozen and a chill ran through his body. It felt like a spark was flowing through his veins…it was an experience he had never encountered before.

"Craig no" She shook and slowly walked away.

She wanted to admit that that she was with Rick but she couldn't. Her feelings for him were too strong. The coldness filled the air as the she walked to Mr. Simpson's class. Manny finally got there and sat next to Liberty.

"Hey Manny. Are you ok?" Liberty asked.

"Yeah. Why do you ask?" Manny questioned

"You're all pale. It looks like you saw a ghost."

Manny raised her hand the second Liberty said ghost.

"Yes Manny" Mr.Simpson said.

"May I go to the bathroom"

" Sure grab the pass," he said pointing to the door.

She got up with every step to the door she felt chills up and down her spin like she does when she with Rick. The bathroom handle was cold as ice. As the door closed behind her it locked and she looked back.

"Good afternoon my sweet" came a mysterious voice from the other side of the wash room.

"Hey Rick"

Rick's mangled body walked out of the shadows.

"Craig's on to us"

"Don't worry I have a way to get us trough this" Rick said hugging Manny.

"What is it?" she asked.

"I wanted to know if you would do something for me?"

"Yeah" Manny looked up tears in her eyes.

"Would you die for me?"

Manny stood there in total silence…sure she loved Rick, but was she really ready to die for him? Was she ready to give up everything just to be with him?

"Rick….I….I don't know. It's hard for me to just give everything up, I mean don't get me wrong I love you, but I'd be giving up my entire life….my school work…all my goals and dreams."

" Don't you think I had goals? Don't you think **I** had dreams Manny? Do you think if I could go back and change things so my body wouldn't be rotting and deceased that I would? Manny I HATE being the way I am now. My whole life gone with just the simple pull of a trigger."

Manny began to tear up, "Rick….I…I'm sorry. I understand, but unlike you I still have a chance…please try to understand that it's not that I don't love you I just-"

"No…you still have cold blood running through your veins and you can't do anything to change it, whether you chose to die for me or not that will never change. I have already corrupted your body with my functions. I saw you before with Craig; do you still care about him Manny? Is he more important than I am?"

"N-no Rick! He's not more important. Yes I do care about him still, but only as a friend. I'm not doing this because of him; I'm doing it for us, so that when I do die it'll be better. I don't want all my friends even more traumatized because another students was dead or killed or killed themselves. Rick, know that I want to be with you, but right now I just can't."

"Manny I can't deal with this right now. I love you."

With that he vanished down the long hallway. The door to the room swiftly unlocked and Manny walked back into the room.

"Well that was fast."

"Oh… I'm sorry Mr. Simpson I didn't mean to-"

"No Manny…that's the quickest I've ever seen someone go to the bathroom, you were gone for about half a minute."

She blushed, "Oh well I forgot my pass…I realized it when I was half way down the hall…sorry."

Mr. Simpson nodded and handed her the pass.

Manny walked out of the classroom and looked up and down the corridors. No Rick. She sighed with much relief when suddenly Craig came around the corner. She quickly turned around and continued walking to the bathroom at a power walk. Craig spotted her and ran to catch up.

"Manny wait!" He ran up to her catching his breath.

"What is it now Craig?"

"I need to know what's going on? I felt it Manny and you know you did too. There's still something there. You can't deny it…I mean we almost had a child together, you can't just throw away feelings like that."

"Well apparently I did Craig."

"Just like you threw away our child." He muttered.

Manny's eyes went wide, "How **DARE** you say something like that!"

"Well it's true! You didn't have to give her up! You just didn't think we could handle it."

"No Craig… I didn't think **YOU** could handle it. At that moment I wasn't quite sure that I would be able to count on you to be there. I needed a father figure for my child and after I mentioned an abortion I knew you would leave me."

"Manny I wanted to be there for this child. I was going to be the best damn father ever."

Manny turned away with her tear stained face, "Craig, don't talk about her. You don't know how often I think about her and how much it hurts."

Craig began to feel remorse, "Manny…I…..I'm sorry I miss her too. I don't think about it as often as you do, but I really do miss her."

Manny began to look around in what seemed like a panic, "You shouldn't be here Craig."

He looked at her confused, "Why not?"

She moved closer to him and placed her mouth to his ear, "_He's watching_."

Craig's eyes widened as he looked around, he couldn't see Rick, but Manny knew he was there. Quickly he pulled out a piece of paper and scribbled something down on it and handed it to her before continuing down the hallway.

Manny opened up the paper and read, '_Manny….we need to talk about this more. Meet me in my garage after school please. I want to make things right between us.'_

She quickly ripped up the paper into very small pieces and placed them in her pocket. She didn't want Rick to know where she was going, he was very over protective of her and she didn't want him to ruin the possible friendship that might come out of this.

Rick watched her walk into the bathroom and slowly followed her. He didn't go into the stall, but stood outside waiting. He heard her begin to cry and sighed, she was always upset because of something. She flushed the toilet and opened the stall. Rick jumped away and swiftly bounced into the stall. He heard her wash her hands and wipe her eyes.

"Why does everything have to be so unfair. I love Rick….I know I do, but seeing Craig is bringing back old feelings that I can't fight. I don't want to give in, but I can't help myself….I love them both."

Rick gasped, he knew something was going on between them. He did love Manny, but if she wasn't going to be faithful then he needed to dispose of someone…..either her or Craig.

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A/N: I didn't do this fic alone...i did it with a friend of mine...she's so-so in typing. we wrote this a while ago so idk how many chappies im going to have...please R&R!


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